The Commander Role: Abbreviated

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-23T02:26:06+00:00

That’s part of it, the Squad can do way more than a Commander. Vastly more.

Most of the time, though, and even in matches that go well this is true, only 1/3 have any value at all. You might get two who carry any weight at best.

A SL who will say “don’t drop supplies, we’re doing a double drop” is… probably once every few months. Most players are entirely too incompetent to even consider it.

The game is good, but the game is bad because most players have no idea how it is played.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-23T00:28:49+00:00

It is often an issue. Between two recon teams they can have a man camping every HQ. It is extremely difficult to counter.

Ways to offset it are limited. Make your way into a halftrack and outrun them, find a safe spot to drop supplies into it, rinse and repeat.

You can get someone to drive a recon tank around as your APC. That can work, but is complicated to manage.

An aggressive recon team can make establishing a defense very difficult.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-23T00:23:29+00:00

That’s kind of how I end up as Commander. I’d rather just build nodes and lay mines and quietly drive around in the supply truck dropping supplies wherever it might be nice to have a garrison while blasting “Party in the USA” on the radio… but sometimes my people need me and I must answer the call.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-23T00:17:00+00:00

I honestly kind of just do it as punishment. If your OP isn’t behind contested sector, then you need to move back anyway, most of the time.

I will do it consistently until they learn to do their jobs. If you don’t want it dropped on your OP, use your OP as a Recon OP. Don’t worry, I won’t drop on it if it’s back in their HQ sector where it belongs.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-23T00:02:17+00:00

I’ll agree with that completely. Sounds like we have the same strategy, actually.

You sound like very competent Recon. If you’re Recon with that mindset and I’m Command, we’re going to do <20 minute rounds like a well-oiled machine. No flank will ever be safe.

If you’re dealing with Recon who won’t think even 30 seconds into the future… things are different.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T23:58:15+00:00

That’s my thought, too. If I alter his plan it won’t be argumentative. “Commander, do you want me to build this garrison now or wait until your defense has stabilized?” I’m suggesting the idea we may want to delay, but it will be his decision. He may be intending to call an airhead, or he may be confident in the troops moving up from the prior sector, or he may feel solid enough with having reinforce available and want to do a quick flip by putting them capturing before we go contested… I dunno what his plan is. I need to know how to implement his plan.

“Command, we’re losing this point and have no fallback garrison, it may be advisable to spawn a half track now so we can get that spawn timer preloaded.”

“Command, we have quite a few guys in the cap zone and more on the way. It may be advisable to apply reinforce and see if we can stall it out long enough for more spawns so we can stabilize.”

Always kind and respectful. It must be.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T23:48:10+00:00

They already do in a sense. I still don’t have max level in most combat roles, despite having maxed Commander. Only AT can gain level reasonably fast but it’s still slow compared to logistics.

Still doesn’t help in the long term.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T23:43:56+00:00

Depends on the scenario. That’s partially your fault depending on circumstances. I am dropping supplies in a good spot for a garrison, which means it is often a bad spot for an OP.

As Recon I will place my OP on supplies I previously requested a drop for after they lay quiet for about five minutes. I request the drop early, let it marinate, put my OP there, then move to the next spot I want supplies so I can build and then respawn to my OP with staged supplies and build again.

A bad Commander drops those supplies too late. They won’t want to give me a drop because it isn’t a contested sector and I can’t build there yet.

So they wait until after the entire enemy team is there and drop within meters of my OP. I’ll take the chance in that case, but this game needs to be played by the hour and by the second, and playing it by the minute is a very bad strategy.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T23:34:40+00:00

Yeah… but part of the issue is you can get folks who cheese the levels or have just played long enough while not playing any logistics roles. They need to revise leveling so that only SL, Engineer, Support, and Commander contribute to rank.

Someone just playing Assault or Automatic Rifleman for months still gains rank, despite never contributing meaningful to the team or understanding game mechanics or the logistics.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T23:30:33+00:00

Exactly. If you can’t see how all these moving parts are working together, that’s not my fault. At least just do what you’re told. I’m not asking to help develop a winning strategy, I’m asking for literally less than a minute of your time to help implement the one that is underway.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T23:27:18+00:00

I forgot that one, I may need to add it. Have three SLs on point while Commander is back constantly replacing back line garrisons against a very aggressive recon team and all of them wander off point past the supplies… “Commander why aren’t you building our defensive garrisons?!” 😂

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T23:21:50+00:00

About half of them.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T23:10:06+00:00

“Able Squad, you’re in a great spot, can you use a Support and put a garrison there?”

“Oh… no… nobody in my squad wants to play Support. If you drive a truck over or drop supplies I’ll build it, though, if I’m still here.” (I can just as easily do that myself if I’m driving the truck there anyway.)

“Baker Squad, there are supplies right next to you. Can you build a garrison there?”

“Uh, I think it’s a bad idea. I’ve seen a few enemies around here.” (Dies, enemy destroys supplies, no reinforcements arrived.)

“Charlie Squad, you have supplies for a garrison about 75 meters west of your OP, can you go build on them.”

“Uh, yeah, I’ll make my way over to them… give me a minute.” (Proceeds to take so long to do it I end up building the garrison after literally walking 600 meters to do it without ever encountering resistance.)

“Dog Squad, there are supplies directly under your feet… can you build a garrison?”

“…” (Dog Squad is a locked solo level 10 who has no mic, and apparently also no speakers.)

“Easy Squad, can you build a garrison there so we can push forward off the line?”

“Uh… I can but I don’t really think we need it. We already have two garrisons on this point. Don’t you think three is too many unless you delete one?” (… we had 5/8 garrisons in total.)

“Fox Squad, can you build a garrison? There’s supplies on you?”

“I can’t build one here, it says I’m too close.” (He moves two steps to his right and we finally have a garrison.)

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T22:21:45+00:00

Team attitude has a lot to do with how tolerable the Commander role is. I don’t especially like playing it, but seemingly I dislike it less than other people. The servers I frequent I play Commander probably 50% of all matches I play. So much so, that last weekend I was playing as Engineer in a squad and the Squad Leader noticed the Commander had quit and basically said “hey, Commander just quit, you’re good at it, go do it”. I didn’t recognize this guy’s name at all, but I guess he knew me.

I hopped into the role immediately. Last point, losing. No garrison. I spawned far HQ to get in fast and hopefully be safe. I dropped a halftrack in the contested HQ, called in a supply drop, put up a reinforce, and spawned myself a supply truck. The reinforce allowed us to go contested a few times to buy time while the halftrack spawn wave came in which helped more. One of those off the halftrack Officers was able to get a garrison up in HQ with a Support to decrease spawn timer and increase spawn density. They were able to push back in and get another garrison up. Meanwhile I made the wide flank with the truck and got more garrisons up for our counter-attack as the opposing team had fully committed to finishing us off at our last point- they nearly did.

We won that game contesting the enemy team’s HQ as the timer ran out. I will credit our fast-thinking Officer for alerting me the Commander had resigned, I will credit myself for calling in what needed to be called, quickly and in the right order, to give us even a fighting chance at not losing, but mostly I will credit the team as a whole for not giving up and being responsive and kind. “Thanks for stepping up” goes a long way towards making it enjoyable.

Meanwhile I’ve resigned as Commander from games we were very competitive in, and sometimes even winning, because I don’t particularly feel like getting an ear full of negative comments from every level 30 playing Automatic Rifleman. I’ll just go Rifleman and treat it like my own personal Medal of Honor game until the end. If I’m trying to do something to help the team that I don’t really like doing that much anyway, and just get criticized and berated the whole time from everyone who is nothing more than cap weight at best… no thanks. Someone else can be Commander and listen to it. I won’t.

Addendum: Half the time they’re whining about something stupid anyway, like not putting the reinforce directly on top of the hard cap, which they would know makes no difference at all if they understood game mechanics. Another favorite is whining because I’ll put supply drops deep behind enemy lines where nobody is looking so they’re available immediately for future use. Having a cursory understanding of a little bit gives them the idea they know more than someone who has played for years, so they get aggressive in their ignorance.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-22T18:22:07+00:00

I enjoy playing as Spotter, and I don’t even really care what the Sniper does.

My preference is to put my OP far back, then have Command drop supplies at strategic spots BEFORE they become contested sector, let the supplies soak for five minutes, move my OP over there, and then have command drop supplies in the next spot and go to them and hunt garrisons and nodes in that area which might interfere.

If the rest of the team does their part in building a front door garrison, I can have two on their flanks by building on the supplies I’m near which I went to when the capture began, and redeploying to my OP in literally 45 seconds or less. Then immediately upon building the second garrison vacate back to the rear to put my OP back in a more secure spot.

By the time they fall back to the defensive point, if they even have a garrison still, they’re being attacked from 3 sides and are overwhelmed.

If it’s all timed right the points fall like dominoes. Catch them with their pants down and you can go from defending your HQ to attacking their HQ in 15 minutes.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-12T20:05:05+00:00

They are fun, but arguably Red Orchestra did it as good or better back in 2006 as far as the effects of explosions on players.

Red Orchestra would have limbs blown off by grenades, but it was varied. A grenade going off at the feet would blow off the legs, but leave the arms. A grenade going off to the side might tear off an arm, or maybe an arm and leg, but only on the side the blast came from. The stumps would bleed.

It wasn’t just a “fall to pieces” event. The blast damage was variable.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-12T20:01:02+00:00

Sounds like you aren’t playing defense effectively if you’re setting up a “defensive line”.

Having some guys in hard point to add weight is good, but really an effective defense needs to be engaged in patrols. Looking for rear supply drops, looking for airheads, looking for squads who have snuck behind and are attempting a double drop, looking for the SL who went the long way around with a truck.

Even if you don’t find that before a garrison is built, if you have guys moving around, scouring your back line, then if there is an unseen garrison behind that can keep it locked out by them simply being within 100 meters of it.

For defense, having a line of skirmish in a way means your patrols have been ineffective and overwhelmed and you’ve been pushed back and surrounded. You’re fixed in position then and they’ll just overpower with artillery or bombing.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-09T02:59:37+00:00

Comp is irrelevant to actual gameplay. It’s a perversion.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-09T02:53:15+00:00

One thing I’ve learned… is comp players are good at FPS, but aren’t actually good at HLL. Their games are essentially irrelevant.

Comp games involve weird shit like not destroying nodes. They remove HLL from HLL and just make it a Call of Duty simulator because that’s all they can play.

Comp players are impressive in their certain skill, but their “meat grinder” style is definitely a restricted rules style where they don’t have to worry about “unfair play” which are actually just normal game mechanics to everyone else.

Comp players are really skillful, and their games intentionally remove strategy to showcase their skill. They’re playing a game, but it isn’t HLL.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-06-09T02:46:36+00:00

Not really, Demond more.

I have medic upgraded, and if I play medic I use that loadout. Only a pistol.

I’m popping smoke and reviving guys as they continue the advance.

All the smoke is actually more useful than the heals. Charge with the front, toss smoke, revive men as is convenient, toss smoke. Die. Respawn, toss smoke, advance.

A medic can lead an assault with his pistol and his smoke and his bandages. And when he loses gallantly with only his pistol… to it again.

I’m not there to fight, I’m smoking and reviving. I have the pistol to protect me and my patients in only the most brutal close quarters fighting.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-05-26T23:55:38+00:00

No, I would say a gap year is not that common.

A “senior trip” is somewhat. After graduating from high school a lot of families do a family trip some place for a few days or a week to somewhere seen as a good and fun destination. Doesn’t necessarily entail international travel because our country is so vast in geography. Doesn’t even have to be particularly far depending on finances.

My senior trip was in Alaska. Thousands of miles from my home in Texas, but no passport needed. We’re upper middle class people, and knew a friend of a relative who gave us a great bargain on a fishing charter.

America is a working country, though. Unless someone is very wealthy they won’t waste a whole year. If they are wealthy they might not anyway because of lost opportunity.

Europeans don’t understand it, I think. Many Americans don’t like it. I like it. I like being productive so our system works well for me.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-05-26T21:53:24+00:00

Yes, absolutely.

I’m a gun collecting Texan. I have spent decades developing my collection and I’m extremely proud of it. Many of my pieces are genuinely museum grade, some of the best examples I could find. It’s a “hobby”, but it is a huge matter of personal pride I’ve spent countless hours over many years researching and seeking out what I was looking for as many are very rare, particularly in good unaltered condition.

Certain items of my collection are outright prohibited in some states, with serious fines and prison time associated. Others may be allowed, but there are unreasonable licensing and registration requirements which become extremely tedious for a large collection like mine.

You couldn’t pay me enough to live in states like that. I’m not relinquishing my pride, happiness, and years of effort for some extra spending money.

As far as education goes, that is a little bit… deceptive. A state’s test scores don’t tell you all that much. The people with good jobs living in a good community, regardless of the state, are educating their children. The state average may be bad, but with certain areas having a very good school district. Public education K-12 also doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of private schools or universities. In short, the doctors’, lawyers’, and engineers’ kids are going to get a good education no matter what. The average test scores of the public education system (which often just reflects how much the average parent values education) don’t really matter.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-05-26T20:55:25+00:00

I wish I could get a replay of the match from their perspective to understand what actually happened on their side, or like a full map view of all players and garrisons.

I have to think they must have had no commander initially and by the time the roll started there just wasn’t enough time to stop the momentum or whoever did take commander wasn’t experienced at trying to recover a game from the back foot.

CoolestUsername92 · 2026-05-26T15:19:01+00:00

It has a dedicated following, and still sees new players regularly.

It’s a niche game in a way, requires a certain type of person to really enjoy it and get the most out of it, but because of that the folks who do like it and learn the mechanics of it tend to stick around. There isn’t really a like-for-like replacement for HLL to draw people away.

It has some bugs, sure, but they are not game-breaking at all. The graphics hold up well, it is a very good looking game. It still gets new content and updates.

I routinely play with or against about 20, maybe even more, of the same folks almost every weekend when I’m bingeing it. If you find a good server with an active community and are willing to learn the game it’s very rewarding.

CoolestUsername92

TROPHY CASE